Register Pajaronian
April 22, 1988
By KATHY SALAMON
Staff Writer
Six people who had perched atop a 100-foot-high construction crane at UC-Santa Cruz for more than 24 hours to protest scientific experimentation on animals ended their sit-in yesterday after the university met some of their demands.
An agreement was signed by three top administrators before the crane-sitters came down, one by one, about 1:20p.m. Each of them also signed the agreement.
Tom O'Leary, a UCSC spokesman, said the agreement provides for an inspector, mutually agreed upon by the university and the animal rights group, to go through the laboratories at Thimann Hall and observe how animals are kept and cared for. The person should be someone knowledgeable about animal care and about the research use of animals, according to the agreement.
Also, university administrators agreed to keep the large banner saying "Liberate Lab Animals Now" on the crane until 5 p.m. today.
Another clause in the agreement says no criminal charges will be brought against the crane-sitters either by the university or the construction company.
Charles Daniel, an associate academic vice chancellor at the university, was asked whether not filing criminal charges against the protesters would lead to more such demonstrations.
"We are all concerned about animal rights and the way they are used in research," he replied. "We are all sympathetic to their concerns."
Daniel was and one of the signers of the agreement, along with Vice Chancellor Bruce Moore and Natural Sciences Dean Frank Drake.
O'Leary said three of the six protesters are students at UCSC, and all are members of a group called the Progressive Animal Rights Alliance. The leader of the crane-sitters was Ted Rico, O'Leary said. His address and the names of the others on the crane were unavailable.
The protesters had climbed the crane Wednesday at a noon-time rally to hang the banner.
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